


take your breath but you're asking for more

by thehaakun



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: BIKER GANGS WOOP, F/F, neo-urban!au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-29
Updated: 2018-04-29
Packaged: 2019-04-29 19:17:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14479401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thehaakun/pseuds/thehaakun
Summary: “Do you trust me?” The girl asked, her face unfathomable and unreadable despite the hail of laser shots directed their way, the wild wind rushing through her long hair. She was mysterious and infinite, beautiful and unknown, and they’d only just met -- but Corrin found herself saying, “I do.”---[F!Azurrin] Neo-Urban!AU. A new rival gang appears in the city just as a mysterious girl joins the ranks of the Hoshidans; to prevent the city from falling apart to another gang war, the Nohrians and Hoshidans team up and find themselves caught facing an invisible rival.





	take your breath but you're asking for more

**Author's Note:**

> Ok i was listening to Thief by Angel Elgort and that song inspired literally the entirety of this AU BUT ALSO i love,, cyberpunk future aesthetic?? Like sign me the fuck up for neon lights and cool cities and urban jungles y’all i’m here for this shit lmao  
> Also this au is just an excuse for me to do hot sexy times for the OTP b/c my longfic is taking too long for me to get to that point so here’s this to satisfy me for the meantime I’M SO SELF-INDULGENT LMAO THIS ENTIRE AU IS JUST FOR ME LOL  
> I’m hoping this fic will be more of a length like mermaid!au, not a full longfic but in the middle-ish kind of lmao

Corrin twisted the handle of her brand new silver motorbike, felt the familiar rev of the engine beneath her, a rumbling roar that brought a grin to her face and brought her competitors shivers down their spines. She’d originally found her nickname --  _ The Dragon  _ \-- to be a little too  _ extra  _ at the beginning, but she’d grown into it, slowly loving it as she heard the cheers of the crowd shout her title as she sped past the finish line.

On either side of her, she heard the engines of the other racers. To her left, two spots over, she waved a hand to Xander standing next to his sleek, black hovercar that somehow looked pristine and brand new despite Xander’s almost flawless track record. To her right, Corrin gave a nod to Ryoma in a bold, red, sports car. A broad grin on his face, Ryoma threw his fist into the air, his booming laugh reaching across the rows of racers.

“Prepare for defeat, Crown  _ Prince _ , Xander! You and the little  _ Dragon _ will not defeat us this round.  _ We _ will be crowned the victor in this fight.”

Xander shook his head, laughing goodnaturedly in the face of friendly competition. “Watch your words, High  _ Prince _ Ryoma. If it is not I who crosses the finish line first, it will most certainly be our dear sister who will.” He gestured to Corrin, who gave a little cheeky smile in response.

Ryoma clapped his fist to his chest, accepting the challenge. “So we shall see, my old friend, so we shall see!”

Around Xander’s flagship prized car, Nohrian gang members crowded around him on their own vehicles, all black and shining in the streetlamps and muted moonlight above. Corrin made small gestures and greetings to Laslow in the passenger seat of Xander’s car, to wild Peri on her abomination of a hoverbike behind them, and to Selena and Beruka on white and black hoverbikes respectively; an idle, black gothic motorbike sat between them, waiting for its master…

And Camilla arrived just in time, stepping out of the warehouse building on the side of the road that served as a base of operations for the street race. At her side was Hinoka, their outfits a contrast of black and purple to red and white; fitting, for Hinoka’s motorbike shone bright white and red amongst the muted white colored squadron of Hoshidan vehicles. Before Camilla headed to her bike, she gave a brief kiss on the cheek on Hinoka, who went red in the face but nonetheless picked up Camilla’s hand in her own, her lips brushing the tips of Camilla’s knuckles as she bade her girlfriend good luck for the challenge ahead.

Behind Ryoma’s car, the Hoshidans prepared themselves. Corrin spotted Setsuna and Azama, Setsuna on the motorbike with Azama in the sidecar, the two in casual conversation. Saizo and Kagero hung close to Ryoma’s car, ever watchful and speaking to each other in hushed voices.

Corrin glanced up onto the roof of the warehouse and waved to Leo and Takumi, who hovered near the edge of the rooftop, all set to observe the race around the city; they performed the less flattering job of managing their communication network to prepare for cops or any other signs of trouble. Next to them hovered Odin and Niles and Oboro and Hinata, who all gave a whoop of cheer as she grinned at them.

The youngest sibling of the head Nohr family came skipping out of the warehouse doors, whistling cheerily as she made her away around the lines of Hoshidan cars towards Corrin, placed center amongst them all.

“Corrin! I’ve come to wish you luck, big sis,” Elise said brightly, a hint of oil smudged on her cheek and nose. Around her waist lie a heavy toolbelt of mechanical tools, wrenches and pliers, marking her as the lead mechanic and repair-girl for the Nohrian gang. 

Corrin reached her arms out to give her a hug, and Elise added, “Also, here’s your helmet -- all fixed and brand new, shiny, squeaky clean!”

Taking her new helmet in her hands, Corrin shook her head in amusement. “Really, Elise? Did you have to add...these horns onto it?”

Crossing her arms and giving an indignant huff, Elise said, “What? You’re called  _ the Dragon! _ Why not look the part? And besides, this is your fault anyway for wrecking your last ride and gear.”

“Don’t remind me,” Corrin said under her breath, not too fondly recalling how she’d won the last race; it’d only been by  _ just _ a hair, but long story short her, and her bike, were on fire and barely in one piece when they skidded across the finish line. Sakura and Elise had come sprinting at her, fire extinguishers in hand as they hurried to drag her out of the wreckage and put out the fire as soon as possible. Truly, then, she’d been marked as  _ The Dragon _ .

“Well, put it on, dummy! I wanna see how good you look,” Elise said, clapping her hands.

Sighing, but not one to refuse the little girl who made her a new bike, Corrin slid the helmet over her head, sliding down the glass visor in front; immediately, Leo’s technology kicked in, and she saw a digital display appear on the glass, neon letters flashing before her eyes as the system booted up.

Taking the helmet off and nodding in satisfaction, Corrin said, “It’s sick, Elise. Tell Leo thank you, too.”

Elise gave her a smug grin. “Pretty cool, huh? Oh, and don’t forget this. I doubt you’ll need it,” she leaned in close, and Corrin listened attentively as Elise continued quietly, “By the way, Sakura has a bad feeling about today.” Elise handed her a gun and a thigh holster; small enough to not be too much of a bother for her during the ride.

“Bad feeling as in cops, or…?” Corrin murmured, strapping the holster onto her leg and securing the gun within it. Unconsciously, Corrin felt the inner pocket of her leather jacket, comforted by the weight of the handle of her handy knife.

Elise shrugged, a flash of worry in her violet eyes. “Not sure. But just...be careful. I’ve told the others already.”

Corrin glanced over at Laslow inside Xander’s car, checking the shotgun in his hand; then she saw Camilla speaking in low undertones to Selena and Beruka, who both had their hands on the guns and knives at their hips. She turned to see Saizo and Kagero having a practice sparring fight next to Ryoma’s car, both alert and focused as they feigned and jabbed at the other. Despite the joviality that Xander and Ryoma exhibited to their gangs to get them pumped up for the race, Corrin could just barely sense how both leaders had a bit of tension in their shoulders as they gave commands.

“Ryoma says Sakura’s never had a wrong gut feeling before, and I believe him,” Elise said quietly.

“Will you guys be alright here?”

Elise nodded. “Yeah. We’ll let you guys know over the comms if anything goes belly-up.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Corrin saw Sakura leave the warehouse, a girl in a white dress and white coat at her side. Sakura was gesturing to her, perhaps explaining the rules of the race, and the girl nodded in acknowledgement -- but for Corrin, all she truly noticed was that some kind of aura hovered about the girl, strange and mysterious, marking her as  _ other _ from the rest of the people here. Even then, other heads turned to look at her, to whisper.

Elise, noticing how Corrin turned to openly stare, leaned in to say, “That’s Sakura’s new...sister, or something. She’s really nice, though!”

“New sister?” Corrin asked.

Elise shrugged, a hint of sadness in her slight frown. “Sakura told me that they found her injured on the streets, alone. You remember that huge apartment tower explosion a few weeks ago? They say she was a part of that.”

Chewing on the inside of her cheek, Corrin watched the girl follow Sakura to Ryoma’s side; Ryoma gave them both nods in greeting, before saying something to the girl. In response, the girl pulled back the collar of her coat just slightly, and for a brief second, Corrin saw a golden chain around her neck.

Elise said something, and Corrin blinked, drawn back to the present as Elise put a hand on her shoulder. “But good luck, big sis! And try not to wreck yourself this time, alright?” Elise said, hands on her hips.

“I’ll try.” Corrin grinned at her, reaching up and sliding down the glass visor of her helmet. Elise gave her an approving nod, before winding her way through the lines of cars and motorbikes and towards the side of the street with the rest of the spectators. She joined up with Sakura and the girl, who’d given their own farewell to Ryoma as he got into the driver’s seat of his own car.

Even as Niles sauntered over to the middle of the empty street ahead, a flag in his hand, Corrin couldn’t help but chance one last glance at the girl again -- something about her drew Corrin’s attention, and somehow, the girl noticed, looking straight at her.

Their eyes met.

A shiver ran down Corrin’s spine.

Then Niles shouted, “Racers, gangs, Hoshidans, Nohrians! Are you  _ prepared?!” _

Heart suddenly pounding in her chest, Corrin tore her gaze away from the sidelines and to Niles in front of her, whose bright, white smile flashed amongst the headlights of the vehicles before him. 

Corrin heard the rumble and roar and rev of engines behind her, and she leaned forward, her hands gripping the handlebars, only one foot braced on the ground to keep her balanced as she awaited Niles’ command. Her glass digital display flashed before her, marking the path to follow, and her communications came online as she heard Leo’s voice in her ear, giving them all the affirmative to continue.

Niles raised his flag. “On your marks...get set…”

Anticipation hung in the air, tensed and coiled like a spring, and mechanical beasts waited, ready to be unleashed upon the city under the cover of night.

“Get ready…”

Niles did a grand, sweeping bow, thrusting the flag to ground as he shouted,  _ “GO!” _

The screech of tires on asphalt and the blast of engines flooded the air, and Niles laughed as the horde of cars and motorcycles sped past him, his cape whipping and flapping through the air; Corrin managed to avoid the tumult and chaos of the disorganized mob jostling one another to find a good spot at the front of the pack, sharply twisting the handle of her motorbike and feeling the bike beneath her dart to and fro amongst the competitors.

This. This feeling of adrenaline firing through her every vein, every synapse in her brain alight with energy. This was what she would call truly being  _ alive. _

A savage grin on her face, Corrin easily managed to zoom to the front of the pack as the horde of cars and bikes sped down the street; a sharp turn came up ahead, and Corrin leaned a little as she made her way around the bend, the display before her eyes lighting up the way forward.

Up ahead, down the main street, Corrin spotted a ramp to lead up onto the now-deserted freeway -- grinning, Corrin saw Ryoma and Xander at the forefront of them all, the two neck and neck as they each tried to find an opening to slip past the other.

Black tire marks burned upon the ground as Ryoma and Xander skidded be the first up the ramp; Ryoma managed to slip past first, and Corrin could hear Ryoma’s booming laugh of victory as Xander came up right on his tail.

Glancing in her rearview mirror, Corrin saw the rest of the racers close to her as well; shaking her head in amusement, Corrin ignored the display’s directions, and instead veered sharply to the right onto a side street.

“Rules were meant to be broken,” Corrin said to herself, glancing to her left and seeing, between the gaps of the buildings, Xander still on Ryoma’s tail. “And no one said I had to follow the same path as everyone else.”

Weaving and cutting through the side streets, Corrin sped through the city, keeping checks on Ryoma and Xander whenever she glanced over at the freeway; she saw sparks flying as cars and bikes skidded around turns, heard the telltale sound of metal screeching against metal as they all rammed against each other in a hasty bid to get ahead.

Neon lights flashed by her, slapping purples and blues and reds on her silver helmet, gleaming brightly in the lights of the city; the wind rushed past her, her ever present companion as her bike shot down streets and roads, blowing past stop signs and streetlights. 

This -- this feeling -- the bike was her wings, the city her skies as she flew.

Corrin looked forward, the display in front of her flashing red and warning signs that the street she was on was coming to an end -- her grin only becoming wider, Corrin leaned forward, bracing herself--

For there, at the end of the street, lay a makeshift ramp from an abandoned eighteen-wheeler.

Her bike hit the ramp, and Corrin felt gravity press down on her as she hit the peak, her tires spinning as she flew through the air--

And of course, right on time, her bike landed, hard, on the freeway in front of Ryoma and Xander, who both gave shouts of alarm and surprise, braking and swerving to avoid hitting her.

“Nice of you two to join the party!” Corrin called to them, laughing as she kept ahead of them.

“Playing dirty, little sister, I see!” Xander said loudly, and Ryoma added, “Clever,  _ little Dragon!” _

Her display told her they were halfway through the race; leaning forward and not taking another look back, Corrin pushed her bike as hard as she could, the bike revving hard beneath her as the two gangs sped down the freeway.

They always staged the races late enough that civilians wouldn’t be out and about, but Corrin saw an unfamiliar movement and color out of the corner of her eye; for there, across from them on another highway, she saw a massive group of violet bikes in close formation.

A shiver ran down her spine. The violet riders had full helmets, their faces unseen.

Tapping the side of her helmet, Corrin said into the comms to Ryoma and Xander, “I thought the race was just us!”

Ryoma’s voice came clear in her ear, suddenly guarded. “It  _ is  _ supposed to be us--”

Up ahead, an access ramp connected the highway with the violet riders to the freeway, and as Corrin shot past it, she did take one look back--

It was Xander who saw it first, the guns and laser swords flashing to life in the hands of the violet riders as they came close to their group--

_ “It’s an ambush! Everyone, evade--” _ Xander shouted through the comms, and Corrin heard the telltale sound of bullets ricocheting off metal, saw chaos erupt amongst the riders as they all swerved and skidded to avoid the oncoming attack. In her rearview mirror, Corrin saw Laslow furiously firing shotgun rounds as he hung out the passenger window of Xander’s car with Peri laughing madly as her submachine gun fired a storm of bullets from her hand, saw Kagero and Saizo in the backseat of Ryoma’s car, hurling daggers and knives. In the distance, Camilla had already unsheathed her signature axe, its brilliant neon purple blade lethally slicing through attackers left and right; close behind her, Hinoka was unleashing a hail of bullets from her handgun.

But when they knocked down one violet rider, it seemed two more would come to replace them.

And right then, Leo’s panicked voice came to them.  _ “Some other gang is attacking the base, all riders, return! NOW!” _

“Oh, shit,” Corrin whispered, fear shooting down her spine; her first thought was of Elise and Sakura, Leo and Takumi.

All pretense of competitiveness lost between the Nohrians and Hoshidans in light of the new gang, Corrin could hear Xander shouting orders.

_ “Ryoma!  _ Cover our flank, Nohr will be the vanguard!”

Ryoma barked his acknowledgement, giving commands as he peeled to the back of the pack; Kagero and Saizo were busy grabbing what fallen they could as they shot past them, roughly pulling riders from flaming cars and bikes, too weak to take the bullets from the violet riders.

_ “Corrin! They’re coming to you!” _ Xander’s warning came just in time, for Corrin whipped her gun from her thigh holster, turning briefly around to fire a few charged rounds; a few hit their targets, their violet riders falling off their bikes.

But their enemies seemed nigh infinite and endless; the further they got along the freeway, more seemed to join them from out of the blue, more violet bikes screeching up ramps and side streets.

Up ahead, the display on her visor her flashed, pointing to the exit -- back to the base.

The chaotic jumble of violet bikers, Nohrians, and Hoshidans flooded down the exit ramp, an unruly mess of gunshots and the burning  _ hum _ of lasers slicing through flesh and metal, screams tearing through the air from the injured.

But only mayhem awaited them at the finish line. Corrin saw Niles and Odin with Oboro and Hinata, furiously fighting off hordes of violet riders on foot in the middle of the street, all of them waving bats or knives and guns. Elise and Sakura were providing cover from the warehouse doors, along with Leo and Takumi, flashes appearing from the muzzles of their guns as they fired into the mass of violet enemies.

Xander’s voice cut through the coms. “Everyone, grab hold of someone! Pick them up, dispatch anyone who follows you, and rendezvous at K1!”

Ryoma added, his voice rough from exertion, “Grab  _ anyone! _ Get anyone you see, Nohrian or Hoshidan, to safety!”

Corrin voiced her acknowledgement; she skidded into the middle of the fray, shooting down a few enemies that were swarming Niles and Odin.

Odin shouted above the din, punching another enemy with his bare fist,  _ “Corrin! Get someone and go!” _ He jerked his head at the entryway to where the young siblings awaited. Not bothering to waste time agreeing, Corrin turned on her bike, dodging the sword swing of a man who came running at her -- she whipped her knife from her jacket, thumb flicking the switch open to unsheathe the burning laser blade, golden and aglow in her hand.

But the man moved faster -- his sword swung through the air again, and Corrin just barely managed to lean her head back -- the laser blade sliced cleanly through the glass visor of her helmet, just an inch away from her eyes and she felt the intense heat just graze and burn her eyelashes.

While the man moved to whip the blade back at her, Corrin slashed her own knife forward, across his throat -- he collapsed on the ground, gurgling and choking on his own blood.

Then she felt a hand on her shoulder.

Crazed with adrenaline, Corrin almost knifed the girl in white --  she managed to stop herself in time, whipping her ruined helmet off her head and tossing it to the ground while the girl’s golden eyes pierced straight into her own gaze.

“Can you take me?” The girl asked, unfazed, panting and breathless, speckles of red blood across her white outfit.

“Get on,” Corrin said -- but while she’d expected the girl to sit behind her on the bike, the girl instead moved in front of Corrin, hooking her legs around Corrin’s waist, her chest flush against Corrin’s own. In any other circumstance she would’ve blushed, unnerved by the closeness, but --

“Start driving. Now. And give me the gun,” the girl said, and not wanting to waste any more time, Corrin did as she said, unsheathing her own knife and putting it back in her jacket.

Twisting the handle of her bike, the two of them veered off down the street, and now Corrin understood the girl’s strange decision to face backwards -- the girl covered their tail, firing at any violet riders who came after them. In the rearview mirror, Corrin saw Ryoma and Xander smashing their cars into the unending flood of violet enemies, shouting and gesturing for their retainers to get their younger siblings.

As the two of them raced down the street, the girl’s hand dug into Corrin’s back, her nails sunk deep into Corrin’s leather jacket to keep her steady as she fired relentlessly at their pursuers.

“They’re following us,” the girl said over the rush of wind; bizarrely, she sounded collected and cool, despite the chaos unfolding behind them.

“How many?”

“A lot.”

Not bothering to check, Corrin skidded around a corner, gritting her teeth, the wind blowing her hair wildly behind her as she heard the telltale sound of bikers falling off their rides as the girl fired a few more rounds.

“I’ll cut through the factory district, we can lose them there,” Corrin said, making another sharp turn -- up ahead, down the street, Corrin saw the larger than life mechanical metal monsters made of an unending maze of pipes and steam vents -- the factories were a surefire way to lose their pursuers, if Corrin could steer her way through without crashing them in the narrow paths and alleyways within.

“Can you do it?” The girl asked, as if hearing Corrin’s thoughts.

“I can.”

They sped through the entrance, landing into a dimly lit alleyway, crisscrossed by a contortion of pipes above them, the small gaps in between allowing them a few flashes of moonlight to the dark, murky ground below. Corrin’s bike skidded across wet patches, over potholes, but nonetheless she relentlessly went forward, sharply turning and skidding through the maze. They managed to lose a few, from the ones the girl shot to some of them simply colliding into walls or pipes when they couldn’t make the turn. Still, their chasers fired their own volleys of shots after them, and Corrin winced and grimaced when a few managed to singe the edges of her clothes, leaving burning marks in their wake.

“How many left?” Corrin asked, hoarse.

“A lot.” The girl’s voice sounded tight.

As they cut down another narrow path, Corrin whipped her knife from her jacket, the bright gold of its blade alight in the dark confines of the dense maze; reaching out, her glowing blade cut easily through the metal pipes on either side of her, like scissors through silk.

Bursts of steam erupted from the cuts, and Corrin heard the satisfying sound of pained screams and shouts as the riders behind them were burned alive by water vapor.

“Clever,” the girl said, and Corrin found herself grinning as she put her knife back in her jacket.

“But it’s not quite over yet,” the girl added. “There’s still more following us.”

“I can lose a few more--”

“No, you won’t last long enough, and your gun’s out of charge. Get us out of the factory, I have an idea.” 

Corrin bristled at the comment and command, but something about the girl’s voice, or the way her words sounded in Corrin’s ear, made Corrin comply with her order. As they raced through the remaining parts of the metal maze, the girl leaned back a little, and Corrin glanced up and for the first time, truly saw the girl up close.

“Do you trust me?” The girl asked, her face unfathomable and unreadable despite the hail of laser shots directed their way, the wild wind rushing through her long hair. She was mysterious and infinite, beautiful and unknown, and they’d only just met -- but Corrin found herself saying, “I do.”

The girl nodded.

As the two of them came close to the exit point of the contorted twists of factory buildings, the girl unbuttoned the front of her coat, and Corrin saw now at the end of the golden chain around her neck hung a glowing blue vial of  _ something; _ the girl used her teeth to undo the cap, and then what she did next threw Corrin for a loop.

The girl  _ sang _ \-- and the liquid within the vial responded, fluidly twisting this way and that, and a drop of it glided out of the vial and into the girl’s open palm; it transformed into a solid cube, somehow ignoring the laws of physics as it glowed an ethereal blue and pulsed, almost like it was  _ alive _ .

Too overwhelmed with shock to respond, Corrin could only openly gape and stare, barely focusing on driving--

“Brace yourself,” the girl breathed, and Corrin barely understood her command when the girl tossed the single cube at the factory buildings behind them as they shot out the exit.

The violet riders, still within the confines of the maze, all seeing the speck of blue flying towards them, all suddenly swerved and tried to avoid it, slamming and crashing into one another as they gave panicked shouts--

Then the blue cube hit a single pipe of rusted metal, and exploded.

The chain reaction of energy cascaded through the pipes and factory buildings, and their pursuers, caught in the middle, felt the full brunt of fire and intense heat as the factory district imploded into flames -- steam pipes blasted open, water burning alive anyone unfortunate enough to be trapped inside, and metal constructs collapsed in on themselves, unable to support themselves as the foundations of the factories fell and burned.

The intense heat came as a tidal wave over the two of them as they escaped out past the boundaries of the factories, and Corrin grit her teeth, leaning forward as the two sped away.

“Holy shit,” Corrin said, turning her head to see the rising plumes of smoke and wild flames licking up and out around the ruins of the factories, consuming anything and everything within.

“Keep driving,” the girl said, as if she were unsurprised by the amount of chaos and destruction she’d just unleashed, clamping shut the cap to the vial. 

As they veered off down a street, however, Corrin saw one violet rider burst out of the flames -- on fire and ablaze, he relentlessly followed them, somehow able to ignore the heat around his body.

_ “Corrin--!” _ The girl’s hand suddenly clamped down, hard, on Corrin’s shoulder--

And Corrin’s eyes widened when she saw the rider raise his hand, but it was too late--

A single shot fired through the air, and the second it hit Corrin’s back, a blast of pain ricocheted through her chest, vehemently intense and agonizing as she felt the laser pulse burn within her--

Too blinded by pain to drive, Corrin felt her grip fall off the handlebars, and she and the girl ended up falling off the bike, the two of them slamming into the ground of the street as her bike skidded away. All Corrin felt in that second was the pain, and she pressed a shaking hand to her back, felt blood slick and hot on her fingers.

In her blurry haze of red and agony, Corrin saw the girl sprinting towards her, scratched and bruised; then she felt the girl’s hand in her jacket pocket, grabbing her knife.

Corrin lay there, unable to move, too overwhelmed, her every sense flooded with an overload of information -- the smell of burnt flesh and metal reached her nose, her vision blinded by the explosion of agony roiling through her entire body, her tongue tasting blood as she coughed, her ears ringing loudly and she caught the hint of a knife slicing through the air.

Blackness hovered near the edges of her eyesight, and Corrin felt herself slipping away, felt blood leaving her body as she went into shock.

A moment later, the girl was at her side again, golden eyes wild with fear, and she pushed Corrin onto her stomach. Too weak to resist, Corrin lay there, like a ragdoll; down the street, she could just make out the fallen violet rider, her golden knife sunk into his neck.

“Hold still, I’ve got you,” the girl said, her voice somehow cutting clear through to Corrin’s brain.

Again, Corrin watched the girl take out the vial of blue around her neck, uncapping it and  _ singing _ \--

With what little common sense Corrin had left in her brain, she tried to pull away, fear bubbling up her throat as she gave a hoarse cry of alarm--

But the girl grabbed hard, onto Corrin’s shoulder, holding her still. “Please. I’m healing you. Just hold still.”

The drop of blue in the girl’s hand pulsed a bright flash of blue light, before splaying out across her palm, becoming as clear and viscous as water.

Then the girl pressed her palm flat onto the wound on Corrin’s back, the liquid seeping into Corrin’s body; and suddenly a burst of light filled Corrin’s vision as she gasped, felt the unearthly and bizarre feeling of her wound stitching itself together, her insides suddenly regenerating at an unnatural pace and Corrin dug her fingers into the ground, trying to comprehend what was happening to her. Her heart beating loudly in her chest, Corrin felt reinvigorated with a second wind, felt well-rested and energized as adrenaline pulsed through her veins.

But that was impossible. This was all impossible--

The girl put her hand on Corrin’s shoulder, and Corrin managed to shakily sit up, her eyes wide with disbelief. Whoever this girl was, whatever power she had -- she was mysterious and strange, infinite and unknown, and she’d done the impossible by healing an unhealable wound.

“W-what,” Corrin panted, eyes wide with shock. “What was that? What did you just do?”

“I healed you,” the girl replied, her gaze locked on Corrin’s, but there was a hint of sadness there, too. “Are you feeling better?”

And Corrin, still in disbelief, pat her hands all over her body and back -- where the wound had been just a minute before, Corrin found smooth skin, not even a scar, as if she’d never been shot in the first place. But no, she’d seen it the first time, how that blue liquid had  _ exploded _ \-- and now, it had healed her? What...who…

“Who are you? Really, who are you?” Corrin whispered, shaking. What truly terrified Corrin, however, was not that she was afraid of the girl -- no, it was that she, somehow, someway, still felt trust for a girl she’d just met. Any other time, her instinct would’ve shouted at her to pull away, to avoid a power that she couldn’t understand, but something about her new companion kept Corrin rooted to the spot. 

She had power, not only over the thing in that vial, but over Corrin too.

The girl only stared at her in return, an unfathomable depth to the expression on her face.

“My name is Azura,” she said, voice trembling slightly as she held up the vial at the end of the golden chain. “And this is what they were after.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to anyone who reads this!! And somehow finds this interesting lmao b/c BOY i can’t wait for the HOT SEXY TIMES this is wHAT I’M HERE FOR hello  
> Also this is more to practice action scenes, i guess too? Or write a different genre/setting than i’m used to, i hate that action scenes seem to go slowly in writing but that’s just...writing i guess lol
> 
> ALSO Y'ALL IM JUST SO EXCITED FOR THIS AU AAAH I LOVE THIS AU A LOT IM EXCITED TO WORK MORE ON IT AAAA


End file.
